Friends! Beloveds! I’ve missed you so. Thank you for graciously allowing me to take a break from Lil Treasures last week: our trip to Maine was lovely and exhausting and fun and all the things, but I’m glad to be back at my house with my contour pillow and a Southern mindset around things like air conditioning.
Anyway, I’ve returned and come bearing internet treasures for your eyeballs, BUT before we do that, I have an update on my reading pilgrimage to the Cotswolds next summer. If you’re seriously considering joining us, the trip will open NEXT WEEK, June 24th at 2pm ET. The very best way to know the exact moment you can snag your spot is to go here and join the newsletter at the bottom of the page. Common Ground will send you an email as soon as it’s available, and you’ll save yourself a lot of clicking and refreshing. It’s going to be an amazing time and I’m very excited about all the fun things we’re working on for the itinerary (read: potential falconry).
Okay NOW it’s time for the treasures:
🏢 Tressie McMillan Cottom is one of my very favorite writers and thinkers on the internet (she’s worth a follow on socials for sure), but her opinion column from the New York Times last week about how much Americans hate data centers and the idea that A.I. is not inevitable gave me hope in my chronic artificial intelligence despair. This is a gift link, so hopefully everyone can read it!
✝️ ☪️ I know this is long, but this interview that Hasan Minhaj did with Father James Martin, SJ is truly wonderful. Patriot Act was one of my faves back in the day, and I like pretty much everything Hasan puts out. A fabulous conversation about Catholicism, Islam, Christianity in general, and all with that trademark curiosity.
⚽️ I, like the rest of the world, have been delighted by the World Cup tourists discovering America. I cried when Louisianans put up a “Welcome Freddy” sign on their state line; I cried when the Lawrence, Kansas residents basically adopted the Algerians; I cried when the Scots sang at the Red Sox game; it’s ALL TOO MUCH. Anne Helen Peterson wrote a fabulous essay on whether this is a vibe shift or just the World Cup (great, as always). Obviously, it’s not all World Cup hopecore, because our government is still awful and terrible, and watching a South Korean man don a sombrero and keg-stand some Dos Equis doesn’t fix any of that. But the lovely parts are extra lovely.
👗 As a proud member of the Over-40-But-Still-Spiritually-a-Teenage-Girl Club, I must say I am embarrassingly fond of Olivia Rodrigo’s new album (perfectly titled “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love). Literally no skips for me, I could watch people react to this album forever. To be twenty-something and have this album? THE LIFE.
🧸 This week on Faith Adjacent, Evan and I gave Toy Story the Sacred Cinema treatment in honor of Toy Story 5 coming out. I’m still very worried about Sid.
👋 Last week the SBC (🙄) formally banned women preachers at their convention (surprising exactly no one), but I loved this post from Meghan Schanz about what it would look like if women used the Bible like patriarchal men. Chef’s kiss.
Treasures? Yes, treasures.
I hope you enjoyed this installment of everyone’s favorite Friday newsletter, and as always, I’d love to know your personal Lil Treasures in the comments!
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